Make sure to mark your calendars for the following events at Roosevelt this week:

Monday – Thursday
Benchmark testing for students in 1st – 6th grade

Monday, February 13
Last day to buy Valentine’s Day Candy Grams. They can be purchased in the school office before and after school. If you want to buy one, but are unable to come to the office, you can send your money in with your child. Candy Grams are $1 each. Please be sure to include a note with with the following: who the Candy Gram is for, the room # and who the Candy Gram is from. The Candy Grams will be delivered to the classrooms on Tuesday.

Site Council / ELAC meeting at 6:30pm in the Faculty Lounge (Room 14). Come and hear the latest district and school news. All are encouraged to attend and Spanish translation is available.

Tuesday, February 14
Valentine’s Day! Check with your child’s teacher to see if anything is scheduled for your child’s class on that day. Instead of sending candy with your child’s valentine’s, consider sending erasers, pencils, etc. to keep the sweet treats to a minimum.

Wednesday, February 15
Spring Picture Day – Free Dress!

Friday, February 17
Lincoln’s Birthday – No School

Important Dates…
February 20 – President’s Day – No School
February 22 – Happy Birds Assembly
February 24 – Student of the Month Assemblies
February 24 – Movie Night at 7:00pm – Rio!
February 28 – PTA Meeting at 6:00pm
February 29 – Restaurant fundraiser – Pasta Pomodoro
March 2 – Lockdown Drill

In the News…
As you all know, the news story about the Special Ed Preschool teacher’s arrest is still in the news and it has been incorrectly reported that 8 Roosevelt teachers were put on administrative leave. Once again, the Special Ed Preschool is not a part of Roosevelt and Roosevelt teachers were not put on leave. The special ed preschool merely uses classroom space on our campus just as the Rainbow preschool and CDC preschools do. This has been really hard on the teachers and staff and they are not allowed to say anything to defend themselves. I’m asking that we all try to spread the word of this error via social media. Please go to our blog and select the post about the news story error, at the bottom of the post select one of the share buttons to add it to your Facebook page, Twitter feed, etc. I feel that if we all spread the word about the inaccuracy of this news report, we can overcome it. Update: News Reports About Special Ed Preschool Teacher

Keep in mind that this has been very stressful for the teachers and staff and a kind word goes a long way to show that we support them.

On the Parent Blog…
Mrs. Parkhurst’s 3rd grade TIG group held a debate in their class on the book James and the Giant Peach. The students read the book and watched the movie and debated which was better. I also have pictures from the Kinder classes doing their All About Me presentations, as well as other Kinder activities. I have a lot to post on the blog and I admit I’m behind, but will have it up this week (AR Goal party, 4th grade field trip to Ano Nuevo, 6th Grade TheatreWorks presentation, Mr Williams TIG group, 2nd grade Art in Action, Jiji Math in the news, etc.) The 6th grade is studying Ancient Egypt and will be flooding the Nile (I’m not sure what that is, but I’ll take picutures!) and they’ll also be creating their own mummy. Lots of great things are happening in all of the classrooms! I wish I could be in all of the classrooms taking pictures, but there’s only 1 of me and over 20 classrooms, so send me pictures if you have any!

Movie Night!…
Roosevelt’s PTA will be celebrating Mardi Gras and Carnival on Friday, February 24 by presenting the movie Rio! So come and enjoy the fun! Doors open at 6:30pm for popcorn, candy and hot chocolate and the movie begins at 7:00pm. More details to come about activities that will be happening during the week leading up to movie night but mark your calendars now. Our movie nights are always so much fun and a great way to end the week! If you can help with any part of the evening, please contact Kim Schiff at kbschiff@sbcglobal.net

She needs:
1 volunteer to start popcorn machine at 5:30pm.
2 volunteers set-up at 6:00pm-7:00pm
4 volunteers to sell concessions 6:50-8pm
Volunteers to help clean up 8:30-9pm.

Jiji Math at Home…
Don’t forget – your child can log in to Jiji Math at home! Your child can log into his/her Jiji Math account and complete any assigned homework added by your child’s teacher. Go to www.stmath.com, click on Jiji and enter homework activation code: ROO79A-HS9-ZE-TRG. Your child will then be directed to enter their password.

Other Links for Kids…
There are a lot of great online educational games and resources for kids out there. I’ve put some links on our parent blog under the tab Links for Kids. There are also some great apps out there as well. I have Math Bingo, Word Bingo and Brain Pop on my iPhone and I’m sure there are many others. If you have any that you recommend, let me know and I’ll add it.

Save the Date…
Our Rummage Sale’s rescheduled date has been confirmed and it will now be combined with a Cinco de Mayo celebration on May 5, 2012! Our PTA president, Aurora Gallardo needs help sorting and pricing the donated items that have been stored in the PTA room and selling booth space. If you can help, please contact Aurora at aurora.gallardo@star-vista.org

Do You Have a Smartphone?…
I was able to make a smartphone friendly version of the blog for anyone logging in via a smartphone. So make sure to bookmark our parent blog on your phone and then you can check out what’s going on anytime!

Have a great week!